


A Close Call

by StariWolfe



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Pining, Slow Burn, i think it counts as slow burn these two took forever to get together, lws5 spoilers, new episode spoilers, pls dont read if you dont wanna be spoiled!, shadow in the ice spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22489333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StariWolfe/pseuds/StariWolfe
Summary: The commander was almost in a near-death experience.Almost.Her friend, Nocte, took that blow for her. And Braham is incredibly upset.
Relationships: Braham Eirsson/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	A Close Call

**Author's Note:**

> Last chance to turn away to avoid Shadow in the Ice spoilers! You've been warned!

“Are you bloody mad!? That’s not how this works! That’s not how _any_ of this works!”

“Really? It makes sense to me. Kill a dragon’s champion, you become the champion.”

“Bangar, Jormag isn’t going to help you! It just wants your army under its power!”

“Is that what your dragon tells you, Commander?”

Nocte watched as Vesper argued with Bangar and Ryland. The norn woman was nearly trembling with the effort it was taking to contain her fury; her hands were tightly clenched into fists and she desperately wanted to take her sword to the two charr. She was hoping desperately that the two would be amicable enough to listen to reason, but…

It seemed unlikely at best.

She turned her gaze to Rytlock and Crecia as they tried to reason with their son, but he refused. His blind loyalty would be his downfall one day, Nocte reckoned. She’d been like that once, and it almost cost Vesper her eye.

She looked towards Braham as he was quickly losing his temper as the two charr stated that they were going to take the credit for the kill-with his bow, no less. Nocte didn’t trust herself to speak; she’d only get more upset, and that would only make things worse. She’d just be ready if things took a turn for the worse.

Finally, she turned her eyes back to Vesper. The poor commander was trying her damn hardest to convince them to take another path. She’d now seen firsthand the carnage that Jormag could bring, and she was dead set on turning the tide. Nocte watched as she continued to argue.

“Haven’t you seen, or-or even heard what Jormag has done? The damned dragon is only going to kill more and more people! Do you _want_ that, Bangar? Ryland?” She was at her wit’s end; it was only a matter of time before fighting broke out.

“My imperator gave me an order. I intend to follow it.” Ryland stated with a sidelong glance at his parents.

“Your orders will cost hundreds, if not _thousands_ , of innocent people their lives!” She seemingly steeled herself for what she was going to say next. “I’m not letting that happen. Not again.” 

She didn’t notice Bangar drawing Braham’s bow. But Nocte did.

“You’ll have to get over my dead body to get to Jormag!” She shouted, preparing to draw her dagger and pistol.

“That’s the plan.” Vesper’s eyes widened as Bangar aimed at her. She wasn’t going to be able to react in time.

But Nocte was already running.

“ _Vesper, get down!_ ” She pushed her friend out of the way as Bangar fired. The norn watched as the enchanted arrow flew in a graceful arc…

Right into her abdomen.

Pain. Oh Spirits, the searing pain. Her vision was fading in and out as she collapsed, barely registering what was going on. She thought she could hear Rytlock and Crecia above her. And why was her clothing getting wet? There wasn’t any more ice in the cavern...

“Nocte! Nocte, stay with us!”

“Burn me! The wound-she’s bleeding!”

“Nocte!” Was that Vesper’s voice? “Oh no. No no no no no no! Don’t you bloody die on me!” Was she crying? And was that her hand in Nocte’s? It had to be; the charr’s hands would’ve been furry. Where was Braham? He was probably more suited to help her than the others...

She couldn’t think straight anymore. She knew this could be her end, but she couldn’t speak for the pain burning her very being. She was losing consciousness. Her blood was beginning to cover her stomach and arms. Her eyes slid shut; it hurt too much to keep them open.

She wasn’t sure if she heard this right, but right before she blacked out, she could’ve sworn she heard Braham yelling something…

“How DARE you hurt the woman I love!!”

Cold.

Nocte was cold.

What happened? Had she died? Was this what death felt like? Everyone always talked about how death was cold…

Wait. No. She was...warming up? Now that she thought about it, it felt as if something was on top of her. Something soft and warm.

A blanket? She didn’t think those existed in the Mists. As she gained awareness, she noticed that only her arm was cold. It felt like it wasn’t under the blanket.

But her hand was warm. Was someone holding it?

Someone was. The hand was rough and calloused...bigger than hers. Definitely not a human or charr...a norn, maybe?

“...please…”

That sounded like a man’s voice. Definitely a norn. They sounded like they were crying.

“Nocte, please...don’t leave me…”

Braham. It was Braham! She was certain that she wasn’t dead now at least. Why was she so tired, though?

“Nocte, please...I love you. Don’t leave…”

Of course, she wasn’t going to leave, she was way too tired to leave this spot. What was he talking about-

Wait a minute. Did he just say…? Of course, he had to say that when she couldn’t respond! She tried to gather energy to at least speak.

“Br...Braham?” Her voice didn’t sound like her own. It was raspy, weak...what had happened to her? She tried to open her eyes, too, but the light hurt her eyes too much. She felt Braham’s hand tighten around her own.

“Nocte!? Nocte, you’re awake!?” He wrapped his other hand around hers, and brought her hand close to his face, from what Nocte could feel. “Oh thank Wolf, thank the Spirits! Hang on, I’ll go get the others, don’t drift off!” He released her hands and sped away, knocking over his chair as he went. She doubted she could go to sleep even if she wanted to; her head was starting to hurt something awful.

In moments there was a rush of activity in the room as several of her friends entered. She felt a rush of energy as two people grabbed her hands; she assumed that they were using healing magic. She finally opened her eyes to see Rytlock, Crecia, Braham, Vesper, Jhavi and two healers around her. Everyone had tears in their eyes.

“Oh thank the Five, you’re awake!” Vesper knelt at the bedside, trying extremely hard not to let her tears spillover. “What in the hells were you thinking?”

“Well, uh...I don’t remember what happened, let alone why I’m here…” Nocte answered honestly, hoping that her friends would jog her memory.

“You took Bangar’s arrow for me, you dunce!” Vesper was full-on crying now. Nocte remembered now; the searing pain, Rytlock and Crecia trying to help her, and Braham yelling...something. “You saved me, but you almost died! If Braham and Aurene hadn’t helped you-”

“Wait, wait, wait. Aurene?” She wasn’t surprised about Braham helping her, but Aurene?

“Aurene guided us to her sanctuary and healed the worst of your wounds. Then we brought you back to Jora’s keep and put you in Almorra’s old room to finish healing.” Rytlock spoke up. The others began to prop her up on pillows against the headboard. “You’d be dead if not for her healing you, and Braham for driving off Bangar and Ryland.”

Nocte turned her gaze to Braham, looking at him questioningly.

“I, uh...might’ve become the wolf…” Her eyes widened, and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

“Might’ve?” His face grew dark red and he looked away momentarily, scratching the back of his neck. “You helped save me, Braham. Thank you.” His face grew even darker, and Nocte couldn’t help herself from smiling even wider.

Vesper began informing Nocte on what Aurene had told them while Rytlock, Crecia, Braham, and Jhavi began talking about the next course of action. The norn couldn’t help but be a little upset that she was unconscious when she was in Aurene’s sanctuary; she’d wanted to see the dragon again. As the others were pondering what to do next, Nocte nudged Vesper to get her attention.

“Hey, think you might be able to get the others to relocate? I’d...like to talk to Braham alone for a bit.”

She wished that she could wipe that shit-eating grin off of Vesper’s face.

“Sure thing, mate. Leave it to me.” She turned to the others, who were somehow arguing now. “Rytlock, Crecia, Jhavi! I want to go check on the Kodan, will you lot come with? Braham, stay with Nocte if you don’t mind. The healers say she’ll be fine, but she’ll be sore for a while, so help her out, you hear?”

“Got it, boss!” Vesper looked at the two norn and gave them a quick two-finger salute before herding the others out of the room, closing the door on the way out. Nocte let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back on the pillows. She loved her friends, but the healers were right; she was still extremely sore, and sitting up was starting to make her injured torso hurt even more.

“Are you alright? Do you need me to grab the healers?” Braham looked at her with concern, seemingly ready to rush out the door to go get the medics.

“I’ll be alright. It’s like what Vesper said: I’m really sore.” Braham nodded in understanding as he pulled the desk chair to the bedside, sitting down as Nocte took a quick moment to rest. She was slightly surprised to feel Braham take her hand back in his own, and when she looked at him, he refused to meet her gaze.

“I’m, uh...I’m really glad you’re okay, Nocte. I...I was really scared you weren’t going to make it.” Nocte couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. She hadn’t wanted them to worry, but the wound was much worse than she expected.

“I’m glad, too, and I’m sorry I worried you. I’ve got way too many things I want to do before I die, so you don’t have to worry about me going to the Mists just yet.”

“Still, can you promise me that you won’t be so reckless?” As Nocte nodded, he beamed at her. “Good. By the way, what exactly do you want to do before you die?”

It was Nocte’s turn to wear a shit-eating grin.

“Well, the current top of the list is killing Bangar, skin him, and wear him as a trophy.” Braham burst into laughter at that, and Nocte couldn’t help but giggle helplessly. “Oh, ok, that was a mistake, laughing hurts right now.” She got herself under control as Braham adjusted his position, moving to sit on the side of the bed.

“That’s a good goal. And what are the others?” He was still trying to stop laughing as Nocte gathered herself and her courage to bring up the next topic.

“The next thing is...well…” She averted her eyes for a moment. This was gonna be harder than she thought. How to bring this up? She gasped softly as she felt Braham’s hand cup her face, turning her to face him.

“Hey, you can talk to me about anything. You know that!” There was no way he realized how intimate it felt for him to hold her face like this. She looked downwards before steeling herself.

“Yeah, I know I can. In fact, you’re the only one who I can talk to about this.” She didn’t miss Braham’s brief look of confusion. “You see, just before I blacked out, I thought I heard something. Specifically, I thought I heard your voice say something.”

“O-Oh. Oh, Spirits, you heard that…” Braham removed his hand from her face, covering his own with both hands.

“Well, that tells me a lot. So I _didn’t_ imagine it.”

“N-No, you didn’t. I, uh…” Oh no, he was short-circuiting. Nocte gently grabbed one of his hands and uncovered his extremely red face. There was a sharp intake of breath from him as he looked over at his friend.

“Braham. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to clearly hear what you said. I was in the middle of blacking out, after all.”

“Oh Spirits, uh…” He looked anywhere but her as he began. “Well, I uh, I told Bangar and Ryland that, uh, how dare they...well…”

“How dare they…?” Nocte urged him on as he stalled for a moment.

“How dare they...hurt the woman...that I love.” He was still refusing to look at her. “Nocte, you don’t have to feel the same way, and you can even ignore what I said if you want! I just, uh...you’re really pretty and smart and strong…”

Nocte squeezed his hand to get him to stop rambling and used her free hand to turn his face towards her.

“Oh really? Well, that’s a shame; I was rather liking the idea that you loved me, but if you want me to ignore it…” She shrugged, beginning to jokingly turn herself away from Braham. She didn’t get too far before Braham’s hand found its way to her cheek, turning her back towards him.

“I mean, if you don’t want to ignore it, I’d uh, be really happy, Nocte.” He finally made eye contact, and Nocte couldn’t bring herself to break it.

“I’d be really happy, too, Braham.” Nocte let her eyes flutter shut as she took the hand that was holding his and moved it to the one that was cupping her cheek. She was just taking in the moment when she felt Braham lean his forehead against hers, noses barely touching. She thought briefly about leaning up to close the distance, but she decided to let him lead this dance. Moments after she had that thought, she felt Braham gently press his lips to hers and it took everything in her to not let out a sigh of happiness as she reciprocated.

After pining for so long, it felt incredibly satisfying to finally be kissing him. She felt his thumb on the right side of her face run over her scar around her eye, and his other hand lifted to run over the stars on her left cheek. She was incredibly glad that this was finally happening.

Sure, it took her almost dying and she’d rather it would’ve been in a more romantic situation, but nothing could be perfect. And she was okay with that.

They separated softy, both incredibly red in the face and smiling as they made eye contact. Braham was the first to speak.

“So, whatever we do now, we do together, right?” Nocte laughed softly as she leaned up as much as she could to kiss his cheek.

“Right. Together.” Braham let out a little chuckle as he kissed her again.

**Author's Note:**

> WOO
> 
> I love writing junk like this. Apparently I'm okay-ish at angst. Oh, by the way...
> 
> I'm planning on writing out Vesper's entire journey through Guild Wars 2 cuz I need to sort out timeline junk and rewrite some stuff. So look forward to that big ass story when I begin posting it!


End file.
